Some good news and some bad news. The good news is, the replacement building for 400-404 Stewart Avenue is well underway. No false starts, no rumor milling. The new structure is quite substantial for a modest three-story building – structural steel frame (currently up to the second floor), steel floor panels, finished basement, – all heavy duty, commercial grade construction, befitting for a mixed-use structure with possible food retail or general retail tenants on the 3,000 SF ground floor. Note the structural cross-beams; those well segments will not have windows. The exposed portion of the concrete foundation wall will be faced with bluestone later in the build-out. The fifth photo shows no concrete between the floor panels and foundation, presumably because the corner entrance will have an interior stairway that steps up to the ground level.
Now for the bad news. I chatted with a worker on the site, and when I said “the Chapter House site”, he chuckled, shook his head, and recommended I don’t use that phrase. “The Chapter House ain’t coming back,” he said before picking up a shovel. “People will forget all about it in four years anyway.” It hasn’t been a secret that the Chapter House likely isn’t making a return, but for many students and non-students, it’s still a disappointment to hear that.
The construction timeline for 400-404 Stewart called for a completion this year, which seems generous. The apartment building at 406 Stewart Avenue has been graded, but construction will not start until later this fall. Hayner Hoyt is the general contractor, with Taitem in charge of the structural engineering.
UPDATE: In the comments, John Hoey, the proprietor of the Chapter House, has written in the comments that he intends to reopen the bar, if not here then elsewhere in Collegetown.
Ithacating in Cornell Heights 
The quoted “Bad News” is obviously “Fake News” as the anonymous source is misinformed or grandstanding with the reporter. The chapter house plans to return, hopefully, to the original location if a deal can be reached with new fee property owners that can support a pub for next 20 + years in college town OR we do a deal to acquire one of many existing pubs in college town that are on market, closed or plan to close due to negative effects of social media on bar population. John j hoey , owner
Yeah I was going to say…not sure random construction worker at the scene is the most reliable (or should be taken as the only) source.
The quotes “Bad News” is obviously Fake News” as the anonymous source is misinformed or grandstanding with the reporter. The chapter house plans to return, hopefully, to original location if deal can be reached with new fee property owners that can support a pub for next 20 + years in college town OR we do a deal to acquire one of many existing pubs in college town that are on market, closed or plan to close due to negative effects of social media on bar population. John j hoey , owner
Spare us the “fake news” framing, please. You’re just alienating people when you go choose to talk like Trump.
Whether it’s Chapter House or another pub, I just hope it’s really a soccer pub…at least that’s what another construction guy said. 😉
I usually shoot on the weekends when sites are inactive. But this photo set was during the week, which worked out well in some cases (201 College), but maybe not here. I should be glad I didn’t run this in the Voice first.